I taught English in Japan for 18 months AMA

I was already married and my wife and I decided to do this before we bought a house or had kids. The only answers I have for single guys/gals are second hand through what the gaijin friends I made out there told me. My favorite quote from a Canadian friend to me (regarding women), "Why did you bring sand to a beach?!"

We lived in Nagano for 12 months (my wife was in Nagano, I was in Suzaka, a small town just outside of Nagano), then we were in Okayama for six months after we were promoted to managers.

Class size varied from 1 to 6 students. Most of my classes were children, as I worked for AEON Amity, but in my small town, we also accepted adults. So it was about 60% kids, 30% teenagers, 10% adults (a couple moms, but mostly professionals).

The food was freakin' awesome! We fell in love with things that you just can't get here, even in Little Tokyo in L.A.! Raw horsemeat was good. The expensive sushi was awesome, but so was the $1 rotating sushi. Okonomiyaki was great. I mostly miss all the little ramen shops.

Good times. The work was pretty stressful, as any job in Japan, but it was worth it.

We were pretty comfortable. They say there are three things you can do with your money there: 1) Save 2) Party 3) Travel ... pick any two. We saved and traveled. Rent is pretty cheap and subsidized (eg: so that Tokyo workers didn't spend all their money on rent) and daily costs are pretty cheap. There's a myth that everything in Japan is super expensive, but I found that wasn't true. It's the extras that are expensive, things that you can live without - like alcohol, designer bags/clothes etc.

Our employment contract was 12 months. We renewed when we were promoted to managers, but we got totally screwed and the promises they made and contracts we signed did not match the jobs we were given, so we bailed after six months of abuse [it was a couple individuals, influenced by one asshole (an American with a giant ego), not the corporation that I blame].

It is important to know that the work is demanding, but don't let the Japanese work ethic of making everything extremely stressful get to you. It's not as important as they make it seem it is. It's almost as if their stress is self-manufactured. Enjoy your time there, it won't last forever. You will go through culture shock, but as long as you know the stages, and are educated on it, it will not affect you as much as if you go in blindly. There are some great books that you should read before you get there. People are affected differently though, some horribly, some hardly at all ... but it's still helpful to be educated on what to expect.

Seconded. I'm a qualified teacher with several years experience, intermediate level Japanese, 3 months travel experience there, but no degree to work there. My experience there was that the girls there like the local guys- the ones that want a whitey go where the whiteys are. But I only really had ten days that I was "free" before my ex caught up with me and pretty much tied me down for the remainder of my trip. I would love to know how I would have done as an average to good looking 21yo, or even now as a bit older.

Your kind of in left field on this one. I am just asking how many times J-girls came on to him. It is a fact that they will. Furthermore I can only assume that he was a good husband to his wife that he went there with.

I was just pointing out an economic point that just happens to fall along racial lines. For most though, along those lines the opportunity cost of being in Japan differs and thus the impetus differs as well..

What is the best way to get accepted to such programs? I'm American and have two associates degrees. Will not having a BA be a problem with programs like AEON and JET? I have sent my resume and cover letter to several schools. I've gotten positive feedback but they want someone who is currently living in Japan. I would like to have an actual job and subsidized apartment before I go. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure how they treat associate degrees. AEON requires a bachelor's degree from an English speaking country, and I think JET is even harder to get into, if I remember correctly. There are many schools, though, so I wouldn't give up hope. Just check on some of the forums that there are out there, or even give AEON a call to see if associate degrees would work. AEON

The process took a few months from start to finish. You put your application together, then they let you know if you qualify for an interview. If you do, you mock up a lesson of your choosing, and demonstrate it in a room full of applicants. This was a few years ago, but it's probably the same or similar. I'm pretty sure we payed our own airfare there, I'll check on that. I know we did on the way home, and we bought round-trip because it was cheaper than one-way (I still don't get that)! AEON was a solid place to work, huge company, so you can trust it; I knew people who worked for smaller companies and it could be a little dicey. At AEON some people were over-worked, and some people had a lot of free time, so it can be luck of the draw where you end up. I would recommend it, even though a couple of the American employees ruined it for me. Overall, it's something I'm glad I did, great experience. I'd do it again.

Yes, and they actually prefer it that way (AEON at least). If you don't know Japanese, you won't be tempted to use it to explain to your student, in Japanese, what you are teaching them in English. It is supposed to be full immersion practice with a native English speaker; they can learn the details in school. I noticed that as I learned more Japanese, I was tempted to use it in class to make things easier, but I tried real hard not to.